While a man is facing a court appearance for allegedly murdering his Winder wife and dumping her body in an Auburn well, authorities in the town of Metter in southeast Georgia are going back into closets to dust off files pertaining to his former life.

Before James Morris “Jim” Lynn Jr., 42, moved to Winder and married Tonya Faye Royster, he was married to another woman whose death was ruled a suicide.

Lynn is being held in the Barrow County Detention Center for charges of obstruction and murder after Tonya Lynn went missing on Wednesday.

Carvy Snell, the owner of the Metter Advertiser, said he couldn’t recall who Lynn was until he saw the picture of his face online this weekend when stories broke over the disappearance and death of Tonya Lynn.

Snell was the editor of the town’s local paper when Lynn’s first wife, Julie Johnson, died in 1989. He said he personally knew Johnson, but only knew Lynn through her and from around town. A request of Johnson’s autopsy report has been made with the GBI.

Metter is a small town, said Snell.

“We are smaller than Winder.”

Snell couldn’t recall any history of Lynn or Johnson in the news, except for an obituary after Johnson’s death, which he said he plans on retrieving from archives sometime this afternoon.

“We do not cover suicides here in South Georgia,” said Snell. “I doubt there is anything but an obituary. I thought about that this weekend. I went online and read all the stories. I don’t remember about him. I just remember him from being around here.”

In an initial search in its records database, the Candler County Sheriff’s Office failed to find Lynn in its system.

An employee in the records division said that she began working with the sheriff’s office in 1995 and “they were still booking by hand” at that time.

Investigator Justin Wells with the Metter Police Department said Monday that files dating back to 1989 are not archived, and a search for Lynn came up empty.

Wells said files in the current system go back to 2004.

On his Facebook page, Lynn lists a 1988 Industrial Electronics Degree from Swainsboro Technical College and a 1989 Electrical Technology Degree from the same school.

On Sunday, local authorities confirmed that the body found in an Auburn well on Friday was positively identified as Tonya Lynn by her family.

John Bankhead, spokesperson for the GBI, said that Tonya Lynn’s autopsy has been completed and local authorities must release the cause of her death. Detective Rachel Love of the Winder Police Department said Monday afternoon the cause of Lynn's death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said Lynn went before the magistrate judge Sunday. Bond was denied and Lynn will receive another bond hearing at a later date before a superior court judge. It is unknown at this time if he has legal council. He is being held in administrative segregation at the Barrow County Jail.

Tonya Lynn was reported missing on Wednesday by her niece Christa Royster.

Authorities received leads after Royster received an early morning text message from Tonya Lynn’s cell phone. The message requested that the relative take care of Lynn’s children. The phone was turned off when the relative tried to call back immediately after receiving the text.

Tonya Lynn's Chevrolet Tahoe was located at a nearby library from her house a few hours later and that is when the relative reported her missing.

Winder Police brought Lynn in for investigation on charges of obstruction Friday morning.

The GBI and Barrow County Sheriff's Office assisted in determining that the information Lynn gave police was false.

In the midst of the investigation, authorities were led to a female body located in a well off Etheridge Road, a short cut through road between Atlanta Highway and Mt. Moriah Road in Auburn. Tonya Lynn’s family identified her body Saturday.

Tonya Lynn worked at Athens Regional Medical Center and she and Jim Lynn had four children.

On Lynn's Facebook page, he is listed as a maintenance technician. His posted interests include coaching football, baseball and basketball and coaching my kids’ sports with his daughter, basketball and fast pitch softball.

about two years ago, a murder took place in Winder, guess what, the "suspect" was on released on probation with an agg assault "attempted murder" and then killed his victim. So, Im not picking on the DA, Im telling you what we all read in the BJ a few years ago.

Phillip Chad Dunn, put his name in the search engine. He is the fellow that killed his wife in Buford. Heres the "guts" from the Journal

Dunn was arrested just two weeks before the fatal stabbing by Barrow County Sheriff’s deputies. Dunn was charged with family violence aggravated battery, family violence aggravated assault and family violence battery in connection with a Feb. 1 domestic dispute. Dunn bonded out of the Barrow County Detention Center on Feb. 10, after nine days in confinement.

I hope this guy is offered a plea and takes it. Life in prison with no possibility of parole. Spare the family and the children a protracted court case. We don't need to spend millions of tax dollars on a defense attorneys for this beast.

Let's not forget Keith Gresham, who our newest DA wouldn't keep in jail for violating his probation AND a TPO. Not long after he got out due to the incompetence of our DA and judicial system, he killed his kids and then himself.

This DA dropped the death penalty on the guy in Hoshton who killed his wife and mother in law then burned his kids alive in the house. What do you expect???

The death of Tonya has many deeply sadden and we are sorry for the loss that her family and children have suffered. This is not meant to be disrespectful in the least, but as a somewhat objective point of view. Those who knew James and Tonya Lynn well, knew that their marriage was no fairy tale. Don't get me wrong the death is not justified by any troubles in their marriage. But the media has made James out to be some sort of horrible, vicious, criminal with no regard to anyone or anything. That is not the case. Tonya has her fair share of faults to attribute to their disfunction. We are not the one to judge James or his possible actions that occurred. Leave the judgement to the one whom knows the actual events that occurred from an neutral point of view. James will have to answer for his actions when his judgement day comes. Both families and the 4 children are in our hearts.

I would like for you all to know that the Jim you may have seen was not the real man he pretended to be!! Yes their marriage was troubled and that's why she wanted out!!! He murdered her and has shown no remorse!!! If he were truely the man he pretended to be he would have thought about his children
First!!! So please keep your comments about Tonya to yourself!!! unless you have been here through it all and held her crying babies you don't have the right to judge!!! Remember her chdren have been through hell and back and they don't need to hear or see any of your useless comments!!!

How can someone sit there and say that Jim was not a horrible, vicious criminal, how do you figure??? He took the life of a precious women herself and and took 4 precious childrens mom away from them, and now they have to be without their mom and dad, so I also consider him one selfish human being, and it doesnt matter that their marriage was no fairy tale, have you ever heard of DIVORCE??? You are absolutly correct that the death of Tonya has many deeply sadden, many that it will take a long time for them to get peace!!! So keep your comments to yourself about Tonya because you her children and family dont need to see your useless comment!!!

Thank you for your prayers for the family. Deeply touched by the outpooring support. I beg you to please keep negative comments to yourself - please do not post on here!!! Kids are so tech savy these days....please help protect the kids from some peoples comments. No one lives a perfect life, but judgment day is coming.

I too am deeply sorry for the loss of Tonya to her family and her precious children and there is no punishment in prison they can do to him to compare to the pain her children and her parents will go through and any possible siblings. I am from Metter and so many of us that knew about Julie's (his first wife) death knew she did not commit suiside. She was pregnant and so excited about this new little one inside her. She was a very sweet, kind and caring Christian young women and very much loved by her family and everyone who knew her. My prayers and thoughts go out to these 2 families for the loss of these 2 wonderful Mothers. And, I only hope he never gets out of prison for what he has done and that he doesn't convince his children that he is innocent. I am so sorry for your loss. I am sorry for his family, but not one bit for him. He doesn't deserve it. I know he is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and has a right to a fair trial, but I do hope he does the right thing for his children, if for no one else.

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